Coming Home
by Allison586
Summary: Emmalyn runs into Daryl Dixon while running from a monster on the worst day of her life and at eight years old manages to wiggle her way into his heart. There will be romance with another OC character down the line. That will create a family that never would have been if not for the end of the world. I know its a terrible summary but...
1. Don’t Look Back

**(A/N) No I do not own the walking dead I am just using its characters and story so that I can better my own writing in a fun creative way. This is my first time ever writing a fanfiction so I would like reviews and comments on things that I can do better at. I don't mind getting bad reviews it'll just make me a better writer in the end. Hope you enjoy my characters that I add through out the story.**

Chapter 1 Don't Look Back

 **(A/N) Yes I know another one but this is just to say that my main OC is an eight year old girl. This idea has always been in my head but I was too nervous to attempt to write in a child's point of view. Heck I'm nervous to write in an adults point of view but I figure learn by trial and error. Okay that's all for this A/N. There won't be more in this chapter but there will be more in other chapters.**

 _Child OC (POV)- I picture her as Mackenzie Foy when she was little._

The monsters are after me and all I can do is run like momma told me to. Momma yelled to run and don't look back as a monster bit into her and she pulled away from it but was quickly surrounded and pulled into the arms of the monsters. Blood lots of blood.I turned and ran even as I heard her screams behind me. Tears sting my eyes and little sobs escaping from me. The branches of the trees sting my skin leaving a wet burning feeling on my body. Eventually I come to a stop and look behind me. Some part of me expected momma to come out from behind a tree, and pull me into her arms. But that wasn't gonna happen. Stumbling over my tired feet I sink down to the ground in front of a big tree.

Taking in a breath before the sobs started up again with a vengeance. My thoughts turning to fear and worry. What was I going to do? The panic that caused these thoughts reared it's ugly head again with another thought. What do I do now? Looking around I see that I'm surrounded by trees with no buildings or roads in sight. I stand up on shaking legs and sniffle a bit. No more crying. I have to keep going and live like momma would want me to.

Pushing the thoughts of momma out of my mind I start to walk forward. Keep going down look back, I repeat to myself in my head. The sun was starting to go down now and it was getting dark and cold. Wearing just a T-shirt, jean shorts and tennis shoes. I wrapped my arms around myself as my body shivered. It had to been a couple of hours since I started running. The sun was higher in the sky when I was with momma.

As it got darker and dark I could no longer see the sun at all with the trees in the way. Eventually I come to a stop and look around again, to see if maybe there was a house or something that I could get inside of for the night. Nothing within sight and with the light fading fast I need to make a choice. Do I sleep here on the ground, look for other shelter, or attempt to climb up a tree to safety. It can't be that hard to get up a tree. I saw the kids on our street climbing them all the time, I can do this.

Looking at the trees around me I spot a very tall tree with a thick branch hanging. It was high up so the monsters shouldn't be able to get me. Going around the tree I see a bump in the tree so I put one foot up and push off the ground so that I'm holding all my weight on that foot. I grab ahold of a thin shaky branch in one hand and another branch in the other. Trying to pull myself up using these branches I quickly reach for a higher branch and bring my foot onto the branch that one hand had left. I repeated the process a couple more times until I could move my body from the branches to the thick branch.

Now standing on the branch I sink down and let one leg dangle on either side of the branch and leaned back against the trunk. Now that I was sitting I could feel my arms and legs shaking and aching. To tired to move I close my eyes and then my world went dark.

Letting out a sigh my eyes blink open to see a bright light shining in my eyes. Closing my eyes quickly and looking down confused as to why I was in a tree, before I remembered yesterday. My eyes burned and lips trembled but I squeezed my eyes shut to keep the tears in. She wouldn't want me to cry for her, she'd want me to be strong and live. Swallowing I realize how dry my mouth is and go to reach for my backpack, only to remember that I didn't have it. Which meant that I had no food or water.

With nothing to drink or eat my only option is to keep moving and hope I find food or water somewhere. Shuffling around the tree I start to climb down. Half way down I hear a crack and the branch I had my feet on broke sending my lower body into the trunk. And just like that I'm falling having lost my grip on the other branches. My body skidded on the trunk before I hit the ground on my back. My eyes scrunched closed as I tried to catch my breath.

My back hurt badly. I don't want to move but I could hear the crunching of leaves and the groans. Eyes snapping open I sit up despite the pain and see it a monster headed right for me. Ignoring the pain I stand up and run. I wasn't running very fast, not like yesterday and I had a stinging pain going through my ankle that I hadn't noticed before. But I can't stop or it'll eat me. So with my hurt ankle and aching back I continued on. I could still hear it so I look back only to crash into something very big.

On my back for the second time today I whimper when I see another monster. Oh god I'm gonna die, it's gonna eat me. Closing my eyes tightly I wait for pain. "What the hell?" A deep rough voice says.

Opening my eyes and seeing this big man with short brown hair wearing a sleeveless shirt and holding a weapon aimed at me I freeze. My eyes locked on his blue eyes in fear. He went to say something but his eyes and weapon shot up when he heard the mister coming our way. An arrow flew from his bow thing and into the monster.

He scanned the forest looking for a threat before looking back down at me. Still laying on my back I started to feel yucky and then everything went black.

 _Daryl Dixon (POV)_

"Hell no kid, come on get up." I said in an incredulous tone.I nudged her foot with mine but she didn't move. She looked pale and had scratches on her face arms and legs. Nudging her again I grumble under my breath,"Of course this happens to me, Merl's gonna have a field day when he sees this." Shifting my crossbow across my back I bent down and gather her up in my arms. Frowning down at her I start towards camp. Hell just wait until everyone sees this. "Now why do I have a feeling that you are gonna cause me nothing but trouble."

Two hours into the treck back to the quarry I hear a whimper and look down to see the girl was wakin up. Little eyes open and look up at me in fear. I get ready to set her down before I sadness and hope fly across her face. Stopping I said, "You don't gotta worry about me little one, I ain't gonna hurt ya."

Looking like a scared little kitten she said nothing. Sighing I say, "Look kid I need to know your name and if there's someone out there lookin for ya. Do ya think you can tell me that at least?"

Tears fill her eyes and she says in a little voice,"No ones looking for me sir. Momma got bit by the monsters." Cursing in my head I ask,"How long you been on your own kitten." She looks confused and says "My names not kitten." Grunting I say

"Well what is it then?"

"My names Emmalyn Grace Anders." She hesitated for a second before asking "What's your name sir?"

"Daryl Dixon," I say gruffly before we return to mostly silence. Of course bein around a kid that wasn't going to last long. "Where are we going Mr.Daryl?" Wasn't a unreasonable question but I was not really in the mood to chit chat. "Camp."

Short and to the point. Only fifteen minutes away from camp now. "Oh," she says curling in tighter on herself and wincing. "Are ya hurt?" She looks back at me and says quietly, "I-I fell out of a tree." She stops for a second before continuing with, "My back and ankle hurt."

"How'd ya fall out of a tree?" I ask curiously. Her face turns a bit red and she grumbles," Dumb branches snapped." A snort leaves me before I can stop it. I go to say something when I see the camp site. Well here we go. Hearing someone say Shane. I let out a scoff at what he would say when he sees us.

Shane walks over along with Lori. "Who's this?" he asks in that I'm better then you tone of voice. "Kid ran into me a couple of hours ago, running from the walkers."

"She alone?" Fighting to not roll my eyes I say,"Of course."

"Alright, how about I take her and find a place to get her settled," he says before reaching across to take her from my arms. Before he could grab her she wiggles from my arms onto the ground and stood behind me. Grabbing onto my belt loop. Shane looked surprised but said, "Girl we just want to get you somewhere safe and trust me ya don't want to stay with him."

"I'll stay with Mr.Daryl." She says softly. Completely shocked I go to say somethin but Lori crouches down and says, "Honey you really can't stay with Mr.Daryl, he wouldn't be able to take care of you,now come on with me so we can get you cleaned up." She held out her hand to her but she just burrowed further into my leg, hiding her face.

"No!" She shouted when lori's hand got closer to her. "I'll stay with Mr.Daryl." By now a lot of the group had come close to see what the commotion was about. Shane made a grab for her and I quickly blocked him. "She can stay with me." Shane laughed in a mocking sort of way and says, "I wouldn't trust you or that brother of yours with a little girl in your care." I narrowed my eyes at him and asked seething "And just what is that supposed ta mean?"

"Don't know what you might do to her all alone in a tent." Does he mean, oh he does. I angrily step forward into his face and spit out "I ain't ever touched no kid like that and neither has Merle!" Dale gets in between me and Shane and says, " Now son, no one is accusing you of wanting to hurt the girl." Dale and I both knew that, that was what Shane had been implying. But of course typicall Shane knew he had crossed a line and said "of course not, I just think she's be safer with someone who has kids."

"I believe this conversation is over. She wants ta stay with me, so stay with me she will." I say calmly and slowly. I couldn't believe I had just said that but this girl was all alone with no one to take care of her and she had somehow gotten to me enough that I had actually agreed to care for her. In some ways I can relate to her being alone. When Merle was doin a stint in juvie I was alone with the old man.

Hearing someone else say something I focus enough to hear chinaman say, "If she wants to stay with him, let her. She obviously feels safe with him and I don't think it's our place to tell her what to do." Well let's just say I was a bit shocked that the chinaman had the balls to defend her staying with me. It seemed that most of the group seemed a bit shocked too.

Well now that, that's settled I scoop up the girl and walk away from the middle of camp toward my tent. Merle was sitting there skinning and gutting a rabbit when he heard me coming and looked up. "Oh, hell no lil brother, I know you ain't bringing back some lil girly over here." He says. "She's my responsibility now, and she ain't got no one to take care of her."

Merle scoffs and says, "So just take her over to the pig and olive oil and let them take her in,boy!" Glaring I said, "She wants to stay with me and unlike some I don't abandon my responsibilities." I could feel her shrink against me and hide her face in my shirt when Merle got this ugly look on his face, "And just what is that supposed ya mean boy?" Sighing I said, "Nothing, I'm just gonna take her inta my tent so she can get some rest." He nods once and says, "That's what I thought."

Just like him to get the last word in. Walking into my tent I set her down and zip the entrance up before lookin back at her. She looked scared and nervous. My face blanked and I went to ask her something but she says, " Are they gonna take me away Mr.Daryl?" And for the first time in a long time I felt something in my heart hurt at how scared she was. "No, they ain't gonna take ya away, and call me Daryl just Daryl." She nods and gets this look of relief on her face.

I cross the text to my bag and grab a canister of my clean water and some jerky out of it before handing it to her. She looked shocked but quickly started to drink only slowing when I said "Easy, if ya drink too fast you'll get sick." She responded with another nod and finished off her food and water before letting out a big yawn. "You can sleep on the sleeping bag right there",I point to my sleeping bag and pillow. She looked around and then said, "What about you?"

"I'll be fine on the ground for tonight and I'll find something tomorrow." Nodding tiredly she crawls to the sleeping bag and crawls under the blanket. When her head touched the pillow she was out.

For a second I just watch her. I hadn't been able to really get a look at her in all the time she was with me. She had long dark brown hair that was in some messy braid that had probably been neat at some point. She had a lot of freckles on her face and the arm that was sticking out from under the blanket. She had a paler face and a small button nose to go with her little face and big eyes green eyes.

How in the hell I was gonna take care of this girl I don't even know, but I would because she had looked at me with trust and had wanted to stay with me. Thinking she would probably sleep through the rest of the afternoon and night, I settled down with my head on my bag and closed my eyes to rest from the long stressful day.

 **That's it!!! Don't forget to leave a review and let me know if it sucked or if you liked it!**


	2. Looking into eyes

**(A/N) so I was too excited to leave it there and figured I'd write another chapter to whomever may wish to read this. Also I do not own the walking dead or it's characters, I'm just playing with them to better my writing and to make my story, so enjoy and feel free to nit pick at my mistake so that I'll fix them! ;) warning cursing up ahead cough Merle cough and Daryl. Lol**

 _Emmalyns (POV)_

 _"Run Emma! Run" whipping my head around I look for momma. But all I see is all the monsters biting into her as she screams. The blood coming out of her. I don't run, I'm frozen in place watching in horror as my momma was torn to pieces right in from of me. "Momma! Momma don't leave me come back please!" No matter how I hard I screamed for her it did nothing so I squeezed my eyes shut and suddenly I was shaking and someone was saying my name. "Emmalyn...Emmalyn...Emmalyn!"_

Gasping for hair i sit up and let the tears pour from my eyes. I hugged my knees to my chest and started rocking back and forth. I could hear a muffled voice saying something before strong arms are pulling me into a lap and wrapping around me. I freeze before remembering that it has to be Daryl and before I can think about it I stuff my face into his shirt covered chest and cry some more. I can hear him shushing me and saying, "It's just a dream that's all it is. Your safe."

I slowly shake my head against his chest. Pulling back I look up at him and say, "It's not just a dream... it was real." Sniffling a little he grimaced and pulls a rag from hi pocket and says, "wipe your nose your getting snot all over the place." Flushing red she ducks her head and wipes at her nose until it's better. He sighs, "Merle's gonna say I've turned into a pussy if he heard any of this." I jolted and said, "No swearing, momma said it's bad."

I flinched right after I said it but looked back at him when he snorted and said, "Yes, you don't swear... or repeat any questionable words that you hear from Merle." I giggled at that. Which pulled a small smile from his lips. "Alright Emma it's time to go on outside." I nodded and followed him out of his, or I mean our tent to join the others for breakfast. Staying close to Daryl we approached the fire where a short haired woman and the dark haired woman from yesterday sat making some sort of meat for breakfast. The old man from the day before looked up at me and smiled, "Well, look whose finally woken up. I have your food right over hear little one. Looking up at Daryl I asked silently if I could.

Daryl nodded slightly. Smiling shyly I went over to the man who handed me the bowl of food and says, "Now that you have your food I thought I should introduce myself, I'm Dale."

Giving a polite nod and responding with, "I'm Emmalyn sir."

Giving her a wide happy smile he said, "Well that is a beautiful name Emmalyn."

I smiled and went to reply but tensed when Shane came over and before he could say anything to me, I turned and went to Daryl and sat down on the ground in front of him to eat her food. Shane seemed to get a little angry over this but didn't say anything. I relaxed and finished up my food and taking a sip of the water Daryl gave to me. Within seconds a blonde girl carrying a plastic bag came over and said, "Hi, Emmalyn I'm Amy!"

She had a big smile on her face when she said it so I relaxed slightly. She went on and said, "I noticed that you didn't bring anything with you when you arrived yesterday, so I thought I'd bring you some clean clothes and soap to clean up with."

She held the bag out to me and before she could go an Dale says, "why don't you go on and shower in the RV."

A little shocked that there was a shower here I didn't move for a second until Daryl nudged me and said "Go get cleaned up and afterwards we'll talk." I nodded and followed Amy when she beckoned me to follow her into the RV and to the small shower. She explained how to use it before leaving the bag next to me and closing the door on her way out.

Excited to be clean for the first time since this started she jumped into the shower even though it was cold. After washing up I got out and looked at the clothes. There were some thin black leggings and a long red tank top that had to have belonged to Amy or someone else. Putting it all on, I noticed the tank top went down to almost my knees , but it covered me so it was okay.

Placing my dirty clothes in the bag I walked out of the RV and over to Amy and thanked her. She smiled and waved it off before offering to brush out and braid my hair for me. I hesitated but quickly agreed when I realized I had no brush or hair ties of my own. It took twenty minutes to brush out the knots in my hair and another five for her to put it in a bun on top of my head. That she told me how to do myself if I wanted to.

I finished up and went back to the the tent to see if Daryl was there and he was. Merle was also with him sitting outside there tent skinning something. She could feel herself go queasy at the site. But still I just walked up to them and sat next to Daryl who was making more arrows? A bit confused I just watched for a bit before asking, "Why are you making arrows?" I could hear Merle snort at her question and look to be about to say something. But a glare from Daryl stopped him. "Bolt"

What? I turned back to Daryl with an obvious look of confusion on my face. He gave a small smile and said, "It's not an arrow it's a bolt for my crossbow." Oh well that's interesting. "You said we had to talk."

I say to him. He gives me a nod and abandoned his bolt and stands up saying, "coming on." Following him down to the water trying not to show my discomfort at the the stings of pain going through my ankle every so often.

Getting to the water he turns to me and motions for me to sit down at the waters edge where he sits and says, "Alright let me see that foot of yours." I put my foot in his hand and he takes my shoe off carefully, but I still wince from the pain. Pulling the sock off he looks at it for a second and then sticks my foot into the water. I let out an embarrassing squeak at the cold. He chuckles and says, " You should keep it in there for a few minutes while we talk then I'll wrap it for ya afterwards and help ya back to the tent to rest it."

"How do you know how to do that?" I ask a few moments later when he was wrapping my foot in some kind of bandage. "Hurt my foot a couple of years ago and had to do it for myself. Don't want you walking on it if it's sprained, but for we know could just be swollen and bruised from the fall." Nodding along to what he said I almost missed what he asks next. "Now I've got a couple questions for you. "Starting with me asking you if you realize that you put me in charge of you when you asked to stay with me?" I give a slow nod and since at the bandage pulling on a bruised area.

"Why, our of all people would you want to stay with me then?"

"Momma always said that things happen for a reason, and maybe you finding me is something that was supposed to happen, maybe I was supposed to end up with you." He gives me a disbelieving look and says, "You telling me your momma would be happy with your choice of guardian." Nodding again I said, "Momma didn't grow up on the right side of the train tracks either but, she said that there are some decent people left in the world, you just gotta know how to find em."

"And just how did you decide I'm one of the decent ones?"

Blushing I looked down at my hands and said, "Eyes are a window to the soul, they can't lie and momma told me I was good at reading people even when I was little." I look up at him and see him avoiding my gaze in embarrassment. "What do you think of the people you met today then?" I bite my lip and think about my the few people I'd seen so far and say, "Dale seems like a kind person and so does Andrea. Shane... Shane isn't someone I'd want to talk to or be around, something weird about his eyes. Lori doesn't seem like a good person either." Looking back down at my hands i hear him say, "Why Lori?" Frowning I reply, "She looks like those mean ladies who would mock momma for having me on her own and for the clothes she wore."

"What about Merle?" Thinking back to the brief moment yesterday that I saw his eyes I say," He's not a bad guy, just had a few bumps in the road." Daryl says nothing before giving the barest hint of a nod. "One more thing, chinaman asked if there was anything you need when he goes on a run in the morning. I already told him to get ya a sleeping bag and blanket, and I had one of the mothers give him some idea on the size of clothes you need. Is there anything else you want or need?"

"I need a brush,hair ties, a new pair of size 8 shoes, and a knife." He looks at me s bit shocked before asking, "And why do you want a knife?" I shrug and say, "Momma was going to get me one soon and teach me how to use it so that I could protect myself from bad men and walkers." I said that last word a little hesitant because it was weird to call the monsters anything but monsters.

"I'll worry about findin you a knife and teach you myself then. Just don't go showing it off to the other kids in camp or Olive oil is gonna start shit with me bout it." I laugh a bit and nod before we are back to sittin in a comfortable silence. Looking out at the clear blue water I yawn. I've been doing that a lot I mused. It's only maybe noon and already I feel tired. Not really thinking about it I lean my head against his arm and my eyes slowly slide shut. I barely felt him tense and relax when I did this.

He nudged me and says,"Come on, you should get some more rest."

I mumbled, "But I have been resting a lot."

"Injuries make you tired so that you'll heal faster and your small so it's natural to feel tired after the past few days you've had." I nod against his arm tiredly but don't move. He sighs and says quietly, "What are you doing to me." Then gently picks me up and carries me all the way to the tent and settled me into the sleeping bag before I fell asleep.

 **(A/N) Up next Daryl goes on a run and Emmalyn talks to Merle! Don't forget to leave a review!**


	3. Merles Not Bad

**(A/N) I feel the need to mention that my Daryl is probably a little OC. I'm not trying to make him that way but it's a little difficult to write him as he is in the show. Maybe it's because I can't imagine him snapping or trying to push away a kid who's chosen him as her protector. Also Rick will be showing up soonish as in maybe next chapter haven't decided. Enjoy!!**

 **Also thank you for the the review Idshipit007, hope you continue to enjoy it!**

 _Daryl's (POV)_

She'd slept through dinner again but I didn't wanna wake her. Poor kids been through enough. It's morning now though and I have some things I gotta do, starting with talking to a chinaman. Speaking of chinaman there he is. I stalk over to him and he doesn't notice me at first but then Jumps about a foot in the air when he does. "Where you going for the run today?" He swallows nervously and says, "Atlanta, why cause if this is about the things I have to get Emma-"

"No, I'm going with ya. I have some things of my own to find that will take too long to explain to ya chinaman."

He looked a bit anxious as he obviously tried to think of something that would get me to stay here. He sighs, "All right fine but if we are gonna do this, we are going to do this my way, and I'm Korean not Chinese. If we are going on a run together then call me Glenn."

I raise my eyebrow and give a chuckle, "Alright Glenn, we do this your way. He gave a nervous nod and walked back to his tent but then turned around and said, "We leave in thirty." A nod in his direction and I turned turned around to get back to my tent before stopping right outside. Shit what am I gonna tell Emma. Why am I even worried about what she'll say?"

Walking into the tent I'm surprised she's up and attempting to get her shoe over her injured left foot. "Aye stop that. You won't be able to wear that shoe over te wraps, it'll just cause you pain."

She stops and looks up at me confused and asks, " Then how am I supposed to go outside and walk around?" Rolling my eyes I say, "The point of me wrapping it and telling ya to rest it means ya gotta stay off the foot, meaning you are gonna pick a place to sit the rest of the day and stay there until someone's around to help ya."

Scrunching up her face she asks, "Aren't you going to be here to help me?" Clearing my throat I respond, "No gotta go on a run today with Glenn."

There it is her face went nearly white at the thought of me leaving.

"Can't you just send Glenn, what- what if you don't come back?" Ah hell. "Emmalyn nothing can kill a Dixon but a Dixon. I'm coming back in a few hours."

"Swear you'll come back?" She asks her face still pale and a wounded look in her eyes. I ruffled her hair and say, "Yeah kid I'll be coming back." She gives a nod and asks, "Will you take me to get breakfast?" She holds her arms out to me and I pick her up and take her to the fire by the RV and get her settled in the shade and hand her some jerky. I really should go hunting tomorrow. Dale looks over from his chair on the RV and asks, "What happened to your foot Emmalyn?" As she was just taking a bite of the food I had handed her I say, "She fell from a tree the day I found her, so I wrapped it for her yesterday."

Then I walk over to Dale and say, "Going on a run for some things with Glenn. Do ya mind keepin an eye on her while I'm gone?"

"Of course I will."

"Oh and try to keep Shane and Lori away from her, she doesn't like them too much and is worried they'll try and force her to stay with them." He nods with a thoughtful look on his face.

Seeing Glenn walk toward one of the cars I go to Merles tent. He looks up at me and goes to say something but I just say, "Going on a run with chinaman, be back in a couple of hours."

He blinks a bit shocked and says, "Boy what you doing? First ya take in a kid and now going on a run. What's next are ya gonna hand your balls over to some woman at camp?" Rolling my eyes I turn and leave his tent.

Glenn yells over, "Daryl car leaves now!" Looking toward Emmalyn I see her looking at me with worry in her eyes and gives a small wave to me. Heading over to the car I get in and look in the mirror as cane fades from view.

 _Emmalyns (POV)_

Worried is all I feel right now. What if he never comes back. I just lost momma days ago and now it could happen again. He promised he'd come back though. Promises like that could be broken in this kind of world. Picking at a blade of grass next to me lost in thought I hear Lori say, " Emmalyn come over here the kids are doing schoolwork and you should be doing the same." Lori standing there with her hands on her hips as if acting like she was my momma. My eyes harden and I think about how the last few weeks with momma the only kind of school she had me do was read and some simple maths.

But I could see a history book in her hands and I wasn't going to be doin that. "No."

Lori pursed her lips and said, "Excuse me? I think I heard you wrong and I know your parents had to have tought you some sort of manners and would be very disappointed in you right now. Now get up and go to the others.

Dale starts to say, "Lori I think you are being a bit harsh-" that's as far as he gets before I stand up on my one good foot and say, "You are not my mother and you are not forcing me to do something as useless as schooling. And my momma wouldn't be disappointed in me because she agreed with me and told me that all I need to do is simple maths and reading. So leave me alone!" I yell the last part at her and turn around and start hopping on one foot towards my tent with tears of anger and frustration leaving my eyes.

I stumble a bit but before I can fall to the ground I'm caught by an arm. I look up and meet the eyes of Merle Dixon. He lets out an annoyed sigh and lets me go after I'm steady only to offer his arm to me. Seeing my hesitation he says, "Take my arm girly this is the only time I'm gonna offer it, once it's gone it's gone and I'll just watch you hop your way to the tent." **(Didn't realize how this sounded until after I wrote it, once it's gone it's gone lol)**

Quickly grabbing his arm I hobbled with him over to the stump in front of our tents. Where he lets me go to sit down on it. Then he sits down on the log across from me and starts to grumble about having to feed everyone in this camp. I lick my dry lips and whisper, "Thank you, for helping me get back here." He lets out a dry laugh and says, "well Darlina would have had a fit if I'd have just let you injure yourself again, and it was worth it just to see the look on deputy dipshit and olive oils face."

I give a little smile at that but it quickly fades when I think about what Lori had said. "Merle will.. will Daryl be mad that I talked back to Lori and refused to do schoolwork?" Biting at my lip nervously I wait for his reply on to jump when he lays out a booming laugh. "Darlina? Get mad about you not doing school work or sticking it to olive oil? Don't worry darlin, he ain't gonna be mad." I let out a breath of relief before wishing there was something I could do without moving a lot.

I sighed again. "If your gonna sit there sighing over and over again then I'll give ya something to do." He throws a shirt over to me and gives me a needle and thread. "I'll show ya how to sew a hole in ya shirt closed." He sits next to me and starts giving me directions and I happily do as he says. At least I have something to do now. Not long after showing me to sew did he give me a handful of other shirts that also had holes in them and said, "After your done with those I'll take ya down to the quarry and we'll do some fishing." I stop and look up at him. "Really? You'll teach me how to fish?" I ask hopefully. He nods and says, "Yeah I'll teach ya to fish and then I'll teach ya to cook it too."

I narrowed my eyes at him for a second and then say, "Are you just teaching me how to do things that you don't want to do?" He chuckles dryly and says, "And if I were?" I thought about it for a second and then say, "Well at least I'll know how to do these things if I'm ever alone."

"You don't gotta worry about ever being alone as long as your stringing my brother along after you."

I focus on my stitches before asking, "And what will happen to me if he ever dies or leaves me?"

"My brother is the good one of the two of us and he don't break promises unlike me. So if he said he would take care of ya, then you best believe he'll do as he says."

"I think your both good, in your own way." He stops sharpening his blade and looks at me. I shift a bit under his gaze and look back at my stitches. He's silent for a time before saying, "Girly you don't know me but I think your thinking a bit too highly of me."

"No, I just can tell a bad person from a good person and you don't seem bad, just like you've made a lot of mistakes. Mistakes that you can always make up for."

"Why do ya think that?" He asked. I sigh, "Momma told me that people make mistakes and they can almost always make them up if they try."

Later that day

Hours later and Merle and I have eaten the fish we'd caught and are now just sitting around the fire in front of the tents. I wrapped the blanket more tightly around my shoulders and leaned against the stump from my position on the ground just watching for the car. My eyes had just begun to shut when they snap open at the sound of wheels on gravel. I stand up and begin to hop over to the car. I see Daryl get out and start to hop faster until I've fallen against his side and hug him.

"The hell ya doing Emmalyn?"

"I missed you," I mumbled into his side and slouched further against him. I was so tired from everything I'd done and all the worrying I'd done for him that I was asleep the second he lifted me into his arms.

 _Daryl's (POV)_

Holding Emmalyn in my arms I grab the duffel bag holding our stuff and carry both of them to the tent. Before I could make my way inside the tent. "Kid ain't to bad."

"Hmm," I said shifting her in my arms. "She's a tough kid, stood up to olive oil today, and learned how to sew and fish with me." I just blinked, shocked that Merle had actually said something nice about someone who wasn't a Dixon.

He says nothing else so I take Emmalyn into the tent to get her settled and then fall into my sleeping bag for the night.

 **Up next: two week time skip: Daryl teaches Emmalyn and officer friendly shows up ;)**


	4. What Makes Family

**(A/N) Thank you to my second reviewer! I hope to get many more. And I should say that in this story there will be some characters who I think never should have died and will live in my story.Oh and another thing, I absolutely hate Lori and Shane. Have half a mind to give Rick a love interest as well but I might just let him go the same path as in the show. Let me know your opinion on this.**

 _Emmalyn **(POV)**_

 _It had been_ two weeks and three days since I'd last seen momma. My ankle is much better now and Daryl gave me a bunch of things when he came back with Glenn two weeks ago.

Two weeks ago

The morning after Daryl had gotten back he woke me early to give me the things he'd gotten for me. He'd gotten me a backpack, clothes, hair ties, a brush, and then he'd handed me a knife and thigh holster. When he'd handed it to me I'd been confused and it must have shown because he said, "In this world everyone should have a way to protect themselves especially children. I want you to have this in case you need it for the walkers... or people."

"People?" I ask shocked. He got this look on his face and kneeled in front of me and responded. "Yes, if someone tries to hurt you or take you I expect you to use this." I go to object to ever having to hurt someone but he says, "You are a child and I know you don't know this yet but the world, even before this had monsters in it. Now we just have more then before. We have walkers and we have people who could hurt you." I didn't object again.

I didn't put the holster on until a week ago. Daryl has helped me put in on and said to only use it if I need it. No one had noticed it until a boy whose name I later learned was Carl had come up to me at lunch and asked, "Can I see your knife?" At that question everyone went silent and I stiffened. "No." He scrunched up his face and went to argue but then Lori opened her mouth.

"Where did you get that!?" She screeched and I winced in surprise. I didn't even get to respond before she was walking up to me, hand held out she says, " Never mind, give it to me before you hurt yourself and others. I took a step back and positioned my body to run if I needed to. I shook my head once. Shane then comes over and says, "Kid I know you shouldn't have that and you should hand it over so we can give it back to whomever it belongs to."

"It belongs to me." I respond. He laughs and goes on. "It can't be yours, you didn't have it when you came and as far as I know, no one has given it to you." I hear the someone coming up behind me and glance back behind me. I relax myself when I see its Merle and Daryl coming over. "There a problem over here officer?" Merle asks sarcastically. "None that concerns you Dixon, I was just trying to get that knife away from the kid. She took it from someone at camp." Shane says.

Daryl smirked "Stole it? And where did you get an idea like that? She didn't steal anything I gave it to her."Lori Of course wouldn't leave it at this and says, "Why on earth would you give a weapon to a child? How irresponsible is that? Shane do something about this!" Shane sighs and says, "Lori, if he gave it to her then there's nothing we can do. She chose him as her guardian, it's out of our hands."

Carl grins and asks, "Mom, can I have one if she has one? I am older so I should have one too."

Lori glares and says scathingly, "No, you can't have one Carl she shouldn't even have one. If she had parents then she wouldn't have one either but since some redneck is taking care of her, she has one."

I flinched, and the tears that I'd been holding in since Daryl rescued me resurfaced. Thoughts of my momma consumed me and I turned and ran down the dirt road to the quarry. I didn't stop until I reached the trees right next to the water. At the water I drop to my knees and sob. I hug myself and look into the water, upon seeing my reflection I can't help but remember how everyone used to say I looked just like momma. I'd never seen it before, but now as I look at myself, I see it.

I can see it now and I wish that I could see her one last time. Something touches my back and I flinch. But then I can smell the familiar scent of woods and leather. It's just Daryl I remind myself and then look away from my reflection and into my hands. He keeps his hand on my back and sits next to me. He sighs, "Don't listen to anything that women has to say to ya. She don't know anything, especially about what your momma would do."

"She's right though... I have no parents and momma probably never would have given me a knife." There's a heavy silence between us before he says, "No, you have a parent if you choose to have one and for all you know, your momma could have given you a knife. We'll never know." He nudges my chin up so that I'm looking at him and says, "You chose me to take care of you. And if you want then I'll be your parent. I'll probably screw up a million times but I'm giving you this option righ now."

"But I thought you have to share blood to be family." I say confused. He shakes his head and says, "Blood may say your related but you choose who your family is."

I say nothing for a time. Just thinking about it. Would momma approve of this? Me choosing a father. Is that what he would be? My father? I open my mouth to ask but quickly lose my nerve and close it again. "What is it?" He asked. "What would I call you?"

He hesitates before saying, "You call me whatever you want to. If you chose to be my kid then you of course could call me dad or Daryl. It's your choice Emmalyn."

"I've never had a father before..." I whisper and look back up at him through my eyelashes. He smiled and said, "And I've never had a kid before, so I guess this will be new to both of us." I nod and say quietly, "I would like to have a dad, but can I still call you Daryl for now?" He nods. "You call me Daryl until you decide to call me anything else." I launch myself into his arms and wrap my arms around his neck. I can feel him hesitate before putting his arms around me. I'm surprised when I see that Merle is waiting a short distance away from us. He has an odd expression on his face but when He notices me looking and says, "Well I guess I got me a niece now huh little brother?"

Daryl chuckles and pulls back saying, "Lets get on back to camp and make some rabbit stew."

(Present time)

Since that conversation with Daryl who I still called Daryl I avoided Lori, Carl, and Shane not wanting to cause trouble. Though I had jokingly taken to calling Merle Uncle. The first time I'd done it he'd been so shocked he'd tripped over the stump by the fire. Daryl had laughed while Merle had cursed so badly that one of the mothers at camp had covered her child's ears. After that he'd taken to calling me little Dixon. Even thinking about my new little family had me smiling. We may not be a normal family, but like Daryl has said you choose your family.

I chose them and I don't regret it even when they get into one of their moods. Enough about that though. Today is the day and I'm too excited to sleep. So excited that I'm up and dressed before Daryl and Merle. Before the sun had even started to rise. Sighing impatiently I nudge Daryl with the Toe of my boot. He grunts and rolls over. Rolling my eyes I go over to him and say loudly, "Daryl, you said you'd take me hunting today. When are we going?" He doesn't even open his eyes when he responds. "We'll go when I get up."

Biting my lip I ask, "Well since your talking can we go now?" He sighs and sits up and pushes me out of the tent so he can change. "Go let Merle know that we're heading out in ten." Walking over to his tent I tap on the outside of it and am surprised when Merle responds from behind me. "Whatcha want little Dixon?" I jump about a foot in the air but reply, " Daryl says we are leaving in ten."

He scratches his chin before saying, "He must've forgotten that I'm going to Atlanta on a supply run today." I frown, then realize what he just said. "Your going to Atlanta" He nods. "But it's overrun with walkers and what if you don't come back?" I stammer out. "Nothin can kill a Dixon but a Dixon girly. Told ya that before."

I frown and turn around walking back to our tent and say, "Daryl tell Merle he can't go." He comes out with a raised brow and amused expression. "Emma, no one can tell Merle what to do." I huff and then sit on my stump. I don't want him to go. I see that some of the group is waking up. And that a group of them are by the truck that Glenn uses to drive and get supplies. Daryl and Merle are talking too quietly for me to hear so when I walk up to them and they stop I take that as an invitation to talk.

"You'll be careful ,right?" I ask. He sets his rifle down and says, "Don't worry little Dixon I'll be back." I nod and Daryl gets up and motions me to follow him before walking towards the woods. I stop st the edge and run back to Merle and give him a quick hug. He doesn't even have time to hug back not like he would. Before I'm running back to Daryl.

"Little Dixon, I don't do hugs!" He calls after me. I turn and give him a smile and say, "This Dixon does." His mouth twitches into a half smile before he grumbles, "Go on and learn something."

 **(A/N) Keep in mind after this that I have almost no knowledge of tracking or hunting so details on it will be vague.**

We walked for a time before he knelt down next to an imprint in the ground. "See this? Its a deer track maybe a day old." He mutters as an after thought. "How do you know how old it is?" Looking over to me he says, "As a beginner you can make an imprint on the ground with your hand next to it to compare. If the edges are sharp like your hands print would be, then it's not too old. If the edges are more rounded and dull then it's at least a couple days old."

I nod but am still a little confused. He doesn't hear a response so he looks back at me again. "You'll get used to it. After awhile it'll be as easy as walking. He started going in the direction of the tracks and would tell me things to look out for when tracking. To look for animal highways or whatever that is. After a couple of hours of walking we stopped for a quick lunch only to carry on immediately after. My feet were tired but I wasn't going to complain. The sun had begun to set when Daryl says, "We'll set camp here for the night."

He goes about grabbing sticks and long grass. I flopped to the ground in exhaustion after he'd started to build the fire. He chuckles and says, "Come here, gonna teach you how to start a fire." I let out a tired groan but pull myself up and walk over to the unlit fire. He starts explaining the different kind of ways to make fire, the kind of wood to look for, and how to keep the light better hidden. I'd been confused as to why I'd need to keep the falafel hidden but he quickly says that walkers are attracted to light and sound and so are people.

We got the fire going eventually, since he'd wanted to make me do it so that I'd know how if we were ever separated. Then cooked up the squirrel that he'd fought during the long treck. After we were done he stands up and says, "Alright, stand up, gotta teach you how to take care of walkers." I tense but slowly stand up nervously. "Now, there aren't any walkers around, so we can't practice this, and I wouldn't want you practicing it for the first time in the dark either." He grumbles and says, "I know you don't want to learn this but you need to know."

I nod in response. "Now what you need to do to take care of a walker is to get it on your level. Now to do this you have to kick them behind their knees." He motions me over to him and before I can ask anything he uses his foot and shoved behind my knees, I fall on my knees surprised. He helps me up quickly, "Just had to show ya what it would do when you do that, so that you know what to expect. Next is where to stab them with your knife. You have to stab them in the head there's no other option but I'd go for the eyes, ears, or under the chin.

My palms were sweating and I couldn't form a response so I instead nod again. "You can sit down, the next thing we need to discuss is what to do if camp gets overrun and you need to run. Now I can track but if you are lost I want you to carve an x in trees as you go especially if there is a herd around. If there's too many walkers they could cover your tracks this would give me another way to find ya."

He sighs and seems to be relieved that he'd gotten that out of the way. "Why don't ya get some shut eye, I'll keep watch." I scoot over to him and lay down with my head on his leg. I don't know why I did it but I felt safer when I was closer to him. It wasn't long after that I fell asleep.

 **(A/N) okay I lied, Rick will be in the next chapter I swear. Make sure to leave a review and I hope you have enjoyed the story so far. I'm not sure how I feel about this chapter but... hopefully it turned out okay. Update schedule on my profile!!**


	5. Officer Friendly

**(A/N) Jess.Isaac1 (Hope I got your name right) Thank you so much for the review! Hope you all continue to enjoy. Oh and I haven't picked a name for Daryl's future love interest yet so feel free to leave suggestions!**

I'm shaken awake by Daryl, "Come on, rise and shine! It's time to go get us some venison!" I groan a bit but stand up anyway. We eat some jerky then Daryl looks for the tracks left by the deer. Occasionally finding tracks of other animals that he has me try to guess what they are and how old they are. I have gotten at least half of them right, so at least I know that I have a chance of becoming a good tracker.

It wasn't long before Daryl had found the deer and had taken the shot with his crossbow. "Woo! Now all we gotta do is follow it till it drops or I can get another shot at it."

"Does venison taste good or is it like squirrel?" He huffs in amusement and says, "Venison is the best. You saying you don't like my squirrel?" I smile big, "I don't have to like the squirrel I just gotta eat it! Besides we have rabbits and I like rabbits." I say and hold up the line of rabbits over my shoulder.

He grunts and goes to respond when he's interrupted by shrill screams. We both take off running in the direction. The sounds have stopped by the time we get close so Daryl squeezes in between a huge rock and tree before turning and helping me over. When I'm over I see Shane holding a shotgun and some of the others in our group. Then I see our deer and sigh in disappointment.

"Son Of a bitch, that's my deer! Look at it all bit up by this filthy, disease bearing, motherless, poxy bastard!" Daryl kicks at the headless body in anger and frustration. "Calm down son, that's not helping."

"What do you know about it old man, why don't ya take that stupid hat and go back down to the golden pond." He walks back to the deer and starts pulling out the bolts. "Been tracking this deer for miles with Emmalyn. Was gonna drag it up to camp and cook us up some venison."

He turns and looks over at Shane, "what do ya think, we can cut around this chewed up part?" I grimace in disgust. Nope I'll just stick to my rabbit that I tracked.

"I wouldn't risk that", Shane responds.

Daryl frowns and lets out a sigh, "It's a damn shame. Got us some squirrel though.Emmalyn go on and take your rabbits up-" he stops at the disgusting sound of the head of the walker opening and closing its mouth. Those squishing sounds made me feel sick. "Come on people, what the hell? Gotta be the brain. Don't y'all know nothing?" He shoots it in the head with the bow. I start jogging back to camp to take my rabbits to the stump. I hear Daryl, "Merle, Merle! Get you ass out here." I go to his tent and see it's empty and frown.

"Daryl, slow up a bit I need to talk to you." What's Shane need now? I hope he's not gonna try and take my knife away again. "Bout what?"

"About Merle. There was a problem in Atlanta." I walk out of the tent and look at how everyone is around them. Oh no. Where is he? "He dead?" Please say no... Please.

"We aren't sure." Wait what. "He either is or he ain't!" He says loudly.

Some guy walks forward and says, "No easy way to say this so I'll just say it."

"Who're you?"

"Rick Grimes."

"Well, Rick Grimes, there something you gotta tell me?"

"Your brother does not work or play well with others so I cuffed him to a roof. He's still there. I'm frozen in shock my rabbits now on the ground. He's in the city, surrounded by walkers. Flashes of images go through my mind. Momma surrounded by them being ripped apart.

"Hold on let me just process this. Your saying you handcuffed my brother to a roof! And you left him there!"

"Yeah"

He throws his squirrel at Rick and goes to run at him but is shoved over by Shane. He pulls out his knife and Shane yells, "Watch the knife!" He swings it at Rick But is quickly taken down by Rick and Shane. Shane wraps his arm around Daryl's neck and pulls him to the ground.

"Let me go!"

Shane responds with, "Na I think you should stay right here."

"Choke holds illegal!"

"Yeah well you can file a report," he says sarcastically. I can hear him trying to breath so I run at Shane and stay beating on him with my fists. "Let him go! Let him go!" I feel arms wrapping around me and pulling me away put continue to kick at them and scream. Rick looks shocked but tells Daryl, "I'd like to have a calm discussion on this topic. Think we can manage that?" He nods to Shane who releases him. Daryl shoots up and looks at the person holding me and says, "You best let her go now or I'll beat your ass!"

The arms around me release and then I'm crashing into Daryl. He puts one hand on my back then turns his attention back to Rick.

"It's not Ricks fault, I had the key. I dropped it."

"You couldn't pick it up?"

"I dropped it down a drain." Daryl sucks in a breath and says, "If that's supposed to make me feel better it don't." T-dog is quick to say, "well maybe his will, look I chained the door to the roof so the geeks couldn't get at him. With a padlock."

"It's gotta count for something," says Rick.

Daryl says nothing for a few seconds before saying, Hell with all y'all, just tell me where he is. So I can go get him."

"He'll show you. Isn't that right?" Lori comments with this disapproving look on her face.

Rick nods, "I'm going back." At that Daryl starts walking back to the tents to grab some more bolts and knives. We get all the way into the tent before I ask, "Is Merle gonna die? Like momma?" A whimper escapes my throat. He pauses and looks at me. "Emmalyn, he's a Dixon, we don't go down without a fight. He'll be alright. While I'm gone I want you to stay by Dale. You hear me?" I nod. "You got your knife with ya?" I nod again. He sighs and says, "Come on." I follow behind him as he walks to the RV. "Dale!" He calls out. Dale looks down at him from his chair on the RV and says, "Yeah?"

"Need you to look out for little Dixon for me." He seems a bit shocked but nods. Daryl turns and looks at me. "You stay safe little Dixon. I'll be back by night fall." I look up at him and tears fill my eyes. I blink causing them to fall then I'm pulled into his arms. "Merle said he'd be back. But he's not. What if you don't come back either?" He pulls back and tugs on my braid, " I will come back."

I'm scared he won't. But I nod anyways. And then I see Rick in the distance talking to Shane. Anger and desperation runs through me and I pull away from Daryl and stalk up to them. He looks down at me and I say, "You left my uncle on a roof." He goes to say something but I interrupt, "You bring my daddy back, like you should have done for my uncle Merle." He looks shocked but nods anyway. I turn and walk away not looking at anyone as I go into the RV, not even Daryl. I didn't want to see what he thought about me calling him that.

I didn't even know if it was going to happen again. I look uut the window and can see them all talking but I don't want to see anymore so I sit at the table and put my head in my arms. I must have dozed off for a bit because when I go outside the sun was higher in the sky. I sigh and walk to my tent and grab some of my clothes. Then I start walking down to the quarry and over to where all the woman where washing clothes. I don't pay much attention to them and just focus on washing my clothes. Wanting time to go faster so I knew they were safe.

All of a sudden they are all yelling at that creep Ed who Merle and Daryl has said to stay away from. They are all crowding around Carol and pulling her away from him before Shane comes over and yanks him away the proceeds to beat the crap out of him. Honestly I'm a bit shook when he keeps going until Ed's face is all bloody and Carol runs over saying she's sorry. Alright then I don't need to be a part of that so I gather up my clothes and make my way back to camp and hang up my clothes on the line inside the tent.

Eventually I wonder from the tent and the sun is beginning to set. I go over to the pit and grab fish from Shane who was handing it out. I sit on one of the stumps and dig in. I don't realize how hungry I had been. I scarfed it down and looked toward the road waiting for the sound of the truck to come back. Amy bumps into me when she gets up and starts walking to the RV. "Where are you going Amy?"

"To the bathroom. Jeez you try to be discreet around here." Everyone chuckles a bit and I get up too. Walking to the RV just after Amy disappears inside. I planned on waiting until She came outside to go in so I just stood outside the door and waited. But then she comes out saying, "We're out of toilet paper." Oh great I think then see the walker come from right next to the door. "Amy!" I scream and grab her hand pulling her away but not before it grabbed her and took a bite out of her hand. She screamed and pulled her hand away and fell to the ground. Then I grab her and pull her up with me. We are becoming surrounded. People are screaming.

Shooting from all around us but I hear someone say get to the RV. I pull Amy with me and manage to shove her into the RV and climb in after her closing the door behind us. She's crying and so am I. I grab a towel from the table and grab her bitten hand. Pressing against it hard to stop the bleeding. "Oh god, oh god I'm gonna turn. No. No." She whispers. Suddenly it was all quiet and I hear Daryl yell "Emmalyn!"

"I'm in here! We need help!" The door burst open and Daryl comes in followed by Dale and Rick. "Emmalyn get away from her, she'll turn." They all look upset and Amy starts sobbing and clutching onto her bitten hand. Andrea runs in and whispers, "No, not Amy." She pulls her into her arms while I go to Daryl's. "Is there anything we can do?" She asks all the people around her.

I remember when we were at one of the ERs. Momma and I we saw someone get their arm hacked off to stop an infection last year. "What if we cut it off?" I whispered. Everyone looked at me including Amy. "What?" I nervously lick my lips. "Momma was a nurse, and when I went in one day they were talking about how a many had a flesh eating bacteria in their leg. Momma said they had to cut it off to keep it from spreading." Everyone looks at each other before Rick says, "We could do that but it's your choice Amy." She looked scared and shocked. Looking to Andrea she says, "Do it, I want a chance to live." Rick grabs his belt and wraps it around her arm.

"Someone find me an axe." At that Daryl grabs me and pulls me out of the RV. "You don't need to be seeing that." We walk to the tent and surprisingly there aren't any walkers or bodies around the tent or in it. I lay on my sleeping bag and just stare at the side of the tent. We hear a scream and loud crying before it stops. "Where's Merle?"

"He cut off his hand. Wasn't there when we got there." I nod and ask, "Do you think we'll ever see him again?"

"Maybe someday. You should get some sleep we'll be having a pretty busy day tomorrow."

"Is Amy gonna be okay? Or did my suggestion just cause her more pain?" He looks at me and says, "I guess we'll find out, it makes sense. For all we know she could live."

Slightly relieved I close my eyes and surprisingly I fall asleep.

 **(A/N) alright that's my last update for this week lol... unless I get a lot of reviews then I may be persuaded to write another one. Anyway! Amy lives, for now. Let me know what you think about that! Up next: CDC**

 **I'm pretty proud of this chapter so I really hope you all enjoyed it!**


	6. CDC

**(A/N) Orangemavis so glad that you like Merle. I was worried that people would think him too OC. I wish I could say that he'd be back soon... buuut... actually I'm thinking of writing a chapter for him because I have a few ideas. Oh man now I have like three more OC's in process. Would anyone object to more OC's... I hope not. Anyway on to the chapter.**

 **And DISCLAIMER I do not own the walking dead or any of its characters, I'm just playing in its sandbox! I only own the few OC's that I put in!**

The next morning was a somber affair. Daryl told me to go keep Amy company. She had made it through the night but hadn't woken up yet. I was just walking outside our tent when I see T-dog and Glenn dragging a walker. Looking at the walker I freeze. Eyes going wide I whimper. I don't even hear someone say my name. I can't speak and can't move. My ears are muffled. Then Daryl is standing crouching in front of me. His hands on my arms. He says something but I can't hear it. He shakes me gently. Then someone else's hands are on my face. Carol's hands she turns my head to her and her mouth moves too. My breathing gets faster.

 _Daryl's (POV)_

I'm panicking inside and growing frustrated. "What the hells wrong with her?!" I shout in frustrated confusion. "I think she's going into shock." Carol says. No not shock. I go to say something but she collapsed. "What's happening?"

"She's fainted." Elevate her feet and try to get her up soon. Make sure she drinks water the second she's awake. Does anyone have smelling salts?"

Glenn goes running for the RV to check and quickly comes back with some. "I didn't think we would ever need it, but I grabbed it from a store not long ago. They put some of the smelling salts under her nose a couple of times. It takes ten minutes but she rouses. Confused for a moment but then she starts to cry, "Daryl, Daryl."

"I'm here Emmalyn. What can I do?" I ask and pull her into my lap. She burrows her face onto my neck and sobs out, "It's momma. They were dragging momma." Looking toward the body T-dog and Glenn had been dragging I see its female and can't see its face but it has the same color hair as Emma. "Are you sure?" She nods against my neck. It could be but maybe she's mistaken. "How do you know?"

She lifts her head again and before I can stop her she looks toward the body. "Have to see if she has the locket. To be sure..." she whispered. Going to get up I stop her. "What locket?"

"Has a picture of us in it." Okay. Okay. "I can do that, I'll go check." I stand up and leave her with Carol and Glenn. T-dog follows and we go up to the body. I stand positioned in a way so that she can't see it. Turning her over I grimace at the guys that were hanging out of her body. Moving her hair from her neck I see a dirty chain. Grabbing it I pull it over her head. It's dirty so I pull my canister of water to me and pour some water over the locket. Then I gently open it and see the picture. Shit. "Is it?" T-dog asks. I nod. He curses and walks over to a tarp over one of the cars and yanks it off to cover the body.

Standing and walking back to Emma, who was drinking water and looking at the ground between sips. I kneel in front of her and hold the locket out to her. Her face crumbled but she took it from me and held it to her chest. "I'll dig a grave for her Em." She looks up to me with tears pooling in her big green eyes. "Do you want me to do that?" She nods. "Okay lets get you into the RV, you can wait for Amy to wake up with Dale. And I'll bring you out when she's buried." She stands up shakily and walks to the RV with Dale who had come out during the commotion and was now leading her inside.

At least she has closure now...

 _Emmalyns (POV)_

I walked into the RV and sat down at the table. Looking at the picture in my locket. Momma had told me that this locket had been passed down to the first daughter for five generations. And when it got to her she decided to put a photo of her and her mother in it first. Which was the photo on the left. And on the right she put me and her. At least now I'll always know what they looked like. I can't forget what I have with me.

Dale comes and sits down across from me. "Here you can clean it with this." Handing me a cloth with water on it. That's what I do for the next hour. Then we hear a scream. "Jim's bit!"

Dale looks at me as he's walking out and says, "Stay inside or go check on Amy." And he walks out the door. Setting down my newly cleaned locket on the table I walk to the room. Opening the door I can hear a panting breath and whimpers. "Amy?" I ask. She's pale and has tears rolling down her cheeks. "Yeah?" She croaks out. "Are you feeling okay?"

She nods. "Yeah, my arm just hurts." Walking over to the bed I sit down on the edge and look down at my hands. Avoiding looking at the stump. "My momma was one of the walkers they found this morning in camp."

She swallowed and said, "I'm sorry Emmalyn, I can't imagine how hard that must have been for you to see." And she reaches her good hand out and clutches mine. "But, at least now you can say goodbye, and she won't be just wondering around as a walker." Nodding my throat closes up as I say, "I'm sorry that you got bit and that I wasn't fast enough to pull you out of the way." She looked pained but managed to give me a smile, "It's alright, so far it looks like I could make it through this. I was lucky you were there to keep me moving or I would have been killed. You saved me and I'll never forget that."

We sit there for awhile and talk until we hear someone come in. Looking up I see Daryl looking sweaty and dirty. "It's done Em. We are going to be heading out soon. So if you want to say goodbye, then now is the time."

Getting up I look at Amy again. "How do I say goodbye?" She gives me a tired smile, "Tell her how much you will miss her and tell her about Daryl. So she knows your safe." I nod and shuffle to the table put on the locket and then walk out the RV door. Looking toward the graves I go to move toward them but Daryl stops me. "I buried her by the tree over there. Thought you might want some privacy." I see the patch of dirt and go over to it and kneel in front of it. "Hi momma, I miss you... and I wish you were still here but I want you to know that I'm safe. Daryl has been taking very good care of me and he said I can call him Dad. I've only called him it once, but I'm glad he found me. Because now it's not just me, it's Me, Dary, and Merle. You'd like them." I can hear someone telling Daryl it's almost time to go so I stand up and say, "I don't know if I'll ever be able to come see you again so I just want you to know I love you. Goodbye momma." Then I turn around and head straight to Daryl.

"Time to go little Dixon." He says. He leads me to his truck that has Merle's motorcycle in the back. Helping me in and closing my door he heads to the drivers seat. Rolling the window down I watch as mommas grace fades from sight. And then I look forward. When I do I swear I can almost hear the faint voice of momma, "I love you too baby girl, stay safe." I hadn't put a seat belt on so I scoot over to Daryl and curl up against his side. Seeking comfort. He doesn't say anything so I stay there. After a couple of hours I ask, "Where are we going now?" He clears his throat, "The CDC, Rick reckons that they'll be able to help Jim and get Amy so antibiotics."

"Oh, do you think it'll be safe there?" He shakes his head, "I don't know Em, but if it's not then we'll search until we find somewhere safe." We sit in silence until the soothing drive puts me to sleep. I slept through them leaving Jim behind. Then I woke up to them stopping again for the RV the next day. I was hungry and didn't want to say anything because it looked like everyone was hungry. Sighing I remember the fish we'd had that last two nights ago but it only makes my stomach growl. Daryl looks at me, having heard the loud grumble of my stomach. "I'm sorry." He shakes his head, "Ain't nothing to be sorry about we are all hungry Em." We weren't driving yet so he digs into his bag and pulls out one last piece of jerky. He hands it to me but I open it and tear it in half and hand one half to him before biting into my half. He'd seemed surprised but he took it anyway. A couple more hours and the cars all come to a stop and Daryl gets out and comes to the passenger door, "Come on Em, we're here. Stay close to me." We walk to the doors and then walkers show up. Rick starts yelling about how the camera moved and then asks for help. Shane has started to pull him away when the doors open and a bright light shows from behind it. Daryl ushers me in and a voice asks is anyone bit. "No, but one of our people needs antibiotics her hand was cut off." The man lowers his gun and says, "The price to stay is a blood draw. No exceptions. Once those doors close they don't open again. I'm Dr.Edwin Jenner."

"Okay. I'm Rick."

"Vi, seal the main entrance.

"Where are all the other doctors?"

"I'm all that's left." "But, what about that person you spoke to, Vi?"

"Vi, say hello to our guests, tell them welcome."

 _"Hello guests, welcome."_ "Like I said, I'm all that's left."

He leads us to an elevator that takes us down. Then leads us to a room where he starts taking everyone's blood. The sight of the blood makes me feel icky. Daryl goes before me and doesn't even flinch. Then it's my turn. He ties the band around my arm and before he pokes me he asks a question. "You want to know something cool?" I nod anything to take the mind off the fact that he's draining my blood. "After I take this little bit of blood I can tell you your blood type. And that's something very important that everyone should know. Oh that's cool.. "What's so important about blood types?"

"Well if you get hurt and they know what blood type you are they can give you blood to help your body, but only if the bloods the same type as yours or if it's a universal blood type."

"Universal?"

"Means you can give blood to anyone, but if your universal then only universal blood can help you. O-negative is the universal donor, it can go to anyone. AB positive is the universal recipient type, which means they are compatible to all blood. The sting is gone and I go to stand up. Then stumble a bit.

"You okay?" Nodding I stand to the side and let Amy through so that she can sit. He takes as little as possible before saying, "I'll get you antibiotics momentarily."

She nods and gets up slowly only for her face to go pale and almost sink down to the floor. What's the matter with her?"

"She hasn't eaten in days." He gives a small smile before leading us to another room, a cafeteria, "Well I think I can help with that." Finally food. Taking a seat next to Daryl Everyone starts laughing and eating. Then Carl asks, "Can I try some?"

"No."

Then Dale says, "You know in Italy children can have a little wine with dinner, and France."

"Well when he's in Italy he can have some."

In the end he gets to try some and says ew so I look to Daryl and ask, "Can I try some too?" He thinks about it for a second and says, "Yeah, why not? You ain't gonna like it." He warns me.

He pokes me some and every one laughs when I look to him after trying it and say, "Why would anyone like this." Gross. I grab my juice to get rid of the flavor.

 **(A/N) This is an odd spot to end but I had a really tuff time with it. Kept rewriting it but it's not my favorite chapter. Hopefully you still enjoy. Don't forget to leave a review. Up next: Explosions and Highway drama.**


	7. Not an update :(

I'm sorry that this isn't an update...

this week has been very hectic and upsetting for me. I have an interview on Thursday that I've been mentally preparing myself for and on top of that my beloved dog had a seizure today when I was about to start writing a chapter for both of my stories. There will be an update for this story out within the next couple of days. Since I have half of it written it should be fairly soon.

-Allison-


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